Voice of the People, Nov. 04

Kudos to Leslie Mann for her very informative article "Open to interpretation; Despite new laws granting access to birth records, many adoptees struggle in search of their past" (News, Oct. 24).

She wrote about Illinois' new adoption law that allows some adoptees to access their original birth certificate at staggered time periods.

I thank Mann for including me in her article.

Not long after our interview, something earth-shattering happened to me. The state of Illinois actually sent me a non-certified copy of my own original birth certificate. I've waited a lifetime for this piece of paper.

Under the new Illinois adoption law of May 21, those of us who were born before Jan. 1, 1946, get to go first and don't have to worry about any birth parent restrictions. The rest of the adoptees must wait until a year from now, Nov. 15, 2011, and then they must first be cleared by the Adoption Registry to see if there are any denial forms filed against them by either birth parent.

Filing a letter of denial is all that will be necessary to prohibit adoptees from receiving their original birth certificates.

This new law comes with a heartbreaking price tag.

That is: Some Illinois adoptees will never get their original birth certificate because their birth parent has signed a denial form. And other adoptees will never get their original birth certificate because they didn't live long enough.

Receiving my original birth certificate this week somewhat makes up for the years when I kept writing to the state for my original birth certificate; each and every time I'd receive a form saying, "There is no record of any such person."

Oh yeah! I've been right here all the time — alive and well and living in Skokie.

My fury is now starting to recede from my 1993 battle to be issued a U.S. passport, which was refused because my adoption decree did not have a place of birth.

But I did spend nearly all of my life living a state-sanctioned lie. When my amended birth certificate was issued to my family at the time of my adoption, it legally changed me into the biological child of my adoptive parents. That's really a whopper of a lie to go through life with. I do believe that the state owes me a whopper of an apology for withholding from me my own original birth certificate for more than six decades.

I'll dance a happy dance all night long under a beautiful moon when the state finally treats every adoptee the very same way it treats non-adopted citizens. No asking Mommy, no blackballs, no arbitrary birth years — just a plain old birth certificate for everyone.

— Anita Walker Field, Skokie

Local teams

Notre Dame: the Chicago Cubs of college football — lots of tradition, plenty of fans, very profitable, lousy team.

— David Moffett-Moore, Frankfort

Working for voters

I constantly hear our elected officials make the comment that "they work for us, the voters."

So it sounds like, in a certain way, our elected officials are saying that "we the voters are the employers and they are our employees."

If our elected officials honestly believe this, then my question is this: How many employees have you ever heard of who live better and make more money than the employers who gave them their job?

Only in politics, my friends.

— Steven A Conness, Ottawa

Public-private initiatives

It's unfortunate that the ARC Tunnel project, the $9 billion rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City, was cancelled, not just because of the economic and environmental benefits the project can offer, but because there is a way to pay for it without burdening taxpayers.

Throughout Europe and South America, and increasingly in the U.S., public-private partnerships have allowed the private sector to fund, build, own and maintain large-scale infrastructure projects such as tunnels or turnpikes. As the U.S. faces a $2 trillion need for infrastructure improvements, public-private partnerships are the answer.

In these types of projects, the private sector executes and manages the finance, design, construction, tolling, traffic management, operations, maintenance, safety and sustainability efforts that deliver cost-efficient assets to government without raising taxes. At the end of the contract period, the facility, and management of it, is handed back to the public sector at no cost.

The concept is already employed in Florida, where two highway projects are under way; in Texas, with two massive roadway deals executed this year; and in Virginia, where private companies are rebuilding the Capitol Beltway, as well as the Midtown Tunnel beneath the Elizabeth River, connecting Portsmouth to Norfolk. And about half of all U.S. states, including Georgia and New York, have enacted legislation that permits public-private initiatives on state projects.